


Snugglelaffums

by SpringZephyr



Category: Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin
Genre: F/M, Idiots who don't know they're in love, Pet Names, accidental confessions, yet - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:34:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26675224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpringZephyr/pseuds/SpringZephyr
Summary: Nae is confused when two of her teammates start using pet names for each other. Atsuya isn't.X“Silly Bunny.” He has really pointy canines, like a little wolf puppy. “People call each other cute nicknames when they like each other.”“Of course they like each other, they're team – ”“That's not what I mean!”
Relationships: Fubuki Atsuya/Shiratoya Nae, Hakoda Tetsu/Matoro Juka
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Snugglelaffums

**Author's Note:**

> Please tell me I'm not the only Atsuya/Nae fan left. I wrote this to be self-indulgent, but I don't want to see it ignored either.

"Hakoda, what the heck was that?" Atsuya is following the advice Someoka had given him before returning to Raimon, to improve his teamwork. He is, unfortunately, not very good at it, which is why the next words out of his mouth are, "Your saves always suck, but that was even worse than normal."

“Atsuya!” Nae scolds.

There's a small crowd, consisting of several of their teammates, standing around the goal. And it's pointless to lecture Atsuya. He doesn't listen, and his poor attitude makes the heart pounding excitement of practice start to fade.

That doesn't mean Nae gives up. Someoka also said, in words Nae wasn't supposed to hear, that she was the reason Atsuya was finally learning to get along with other people.

“Stop nagging me. They're used to it.”

“Doesn't mean they like it,” Nae responds, quick-witted. She doesn't do particularly well in class, but her responses whenever Atsuya is around are always immediate, smart. She folds her arms over her chest and scowls at him, hoping to really drive the point home. “ _Team player_. You need to be a _team player_.”

Atsuya only scoffs in response, so she adds, “You just scored a goal. Aren't you supposed to be happy about that?”

“There's more to soccer than scoring goals, _Nae_.”

That is funny, coming from the person who, until recently, insisted that scoring goals was the only thing he had to do. “I'll leave defending to the background characters,” he always said.

To be perfectly honest, Nae also can't tell whether or not Hakoda himself agrees with Atsuya.

Most people would assume he's being rude, but the rest of the team has developed sort of an unspoken understanding with Atsuya. He's actually trying to be helpful, at least some of the time. In a _will tell you everything you're doing wrong and then ask why you've started crying_ kind of way, like he did with one of the reserve players last week.

He also used to be quieter whenever she was around. Now Atsuya no longer shuts his mouth and stomps away the second he sees her, and Nae understands that even though he's unnecessarily blunt, he's not intentionally offending anyone, in return.

At least, it's possible.

Maybe.

More than a few people have told her Atsuya hadn't wanted her on the team during the Football Frontier, but he wasn't the only one who'd felt that way. Plus, he's been nicer lately. They went to the Dairy King and split an ice cream sundae, just the two of them, last Thursday.

He's still prickly when other people are around, but that's just because he's Atsuya.

“Okay.” Hakoda still hasn't said a word in this argument, so Nae is going to say it for him. “If you think you can do a better job, why don't you stand in front of the net instead?”

The thin line of the goalkeeper's mouth gets a little thinner.

Atsuya makes a “tch” sound, and clenches his fists like maybe he'll do just that. Instead, he looks away from Nae and starts to offer more of his unhelpful advice, like _try looking at the ball instead of Juka_ and _what's so interesting about Juka anyway._

It's about to turn into another full blown argument between the two of them, until Juka steps past Atsuya and places a hand on Hakoda's shoulder. "Don't worry about it,darling.”

“Darling” makes Nae smile. They're so cute, like that waitress who works at the restaurant Daddy likes, and calls her “Sweetie” every time they have dinner there.

“You're doing fine,” Juka finishes.

“Ugh, you're doing it again!”

“Doing what?”

“Focusing on each other, and not the game!”

Nae stays quiet for once, and thinks about something Atsuya told her a while back. That Hakuren is lucky to have Atsuya and his brother to picking up the slack, because their Goalkeeper and Defenders all suck. “Between the two of us, Hakuren's offense is so good that we hardly need them anyway.”

At the time, Nae had been offended that he'd forgotten to mention her as one of Hakuren's strong points. Now she realizes, that for someone who claims not to care about what the rest of the team is doing, Atsuya actually cares an awful lot.

Atsuya also doesn't react well when he's out of his comfort zone. He doesn't like when his expectations get shaken up. It was, Someoka had told her once, a habit that required breaking out of.

So the fact that Juka and Hakoda have been acting weird around each other probably isn't helping.

"Thanks, buttercup," Hakoda replies.

“Any time.”

Atsuya makes a face like he's about to throw up. The rest of the team is edging forward, impatient, but curious to see how this will end.

“Buttercup?” Nae asks, immediately distracted. “Is that a new nickname?”

Juka and Hakoda never used to talk to each other like that before, so based on what Nae knows to be true of Atsuya, it makes total sense that he's being testy. He won't stop making angry faces and pretending to be sick.

The two of them laugh, which is not the answer Nae had wanted.

Shirou happens to walk past at that exact time, and Nae grabs at his shoulder to demand an explanation. "What the heck is going on?"

Despite being their captain, he's not technically part of this practice. Their only manager went home sick, and Shirou has been organizing friendlies and compiling match data in their place.

Shirou glances between her and Atsuya and Hakoda and Juka, who are currently ignoring everyone else and playfully punching each other on the arm. Hakoda is smiling broadly, which he rarely does, and Juka's cheeky grin is bigger and brighter than normal.

“Every time they're together,” Nae continues, determined to get to the bottom of this, “Atsuya starts acting weird, and it's like they completely forget anyone else exists.”

That's a bit of an understatement though. Atsuya is always acting weird – and furthermore, he protests every time Nae accuses him of it, and insists that she's the weird one. At least the part about Juka and Hakoda only having eyes for each other is true.

Maybe she understands why Atsuya is getting annoyed. They're at soccer practice to play soccer, not to socialize. Not that Nae particularly minds if they're capable of doing both, but they're not.

After observing all involved parties for a moment, Shirou decides, "I'll tell you when you're older."

"What?!"

"You're too young to understand."

"I am not…!" Shirou steps around her, to continue whatever it was he originally meant to do, and Nae looks at Hakoda and Juka for help instead. Her dad changed her bedtime to 9:30 last night. Surely, she's old enough to understand. "Seriously, what's going on between you?"

"Wow, Nae."

Atsuya snickers. One corner of his mouth is lifted higher than the other in a bemused smirk. “If I'm not old enough, then neither is Atsuya!”

“Don't drag me into this!”

"Perhaps Shirou is right," Hakoda concurs. “Furthermore, I would go so far as to say perhaps Atsuya is still a child also.”

Atsuya sputters. What comes out of his mouth doesn't even count as words.

Nae will admit that Shirou is right about many things, but this can't be one of them. Because she hates being told no, or that she can't do something. Atsuya stops laughing immediately – he's the same way.

“I... I am way more mature than Nae is!” Atsuya manages finally.

Anyone who wasn't watching them already is doing so now.

"What doesn't the Princess understand?" Mabuka, one of the most recent additions to the crowd, pipes up.

Relieved to find someone finally willing to explain, Nae doesn't even notice that the entire team has their eyes on her. It wouldn't have bothered her anyway, since people only watch things that entertain them, right?

Mabuka has always been a helpful guy. To an almost annoying degree, because Nae has asked him for help with her homework multiple times since joining the soccer team. He has some of the highest scores in Japanese Literature, but he would rather  _ help _ Nae with her reading assignments than tell her the answers.

The latter of which, Nae has argued multiple times, would be a lot faster and less painful for both of them. And apparently, Atsuya noticed. So now Mabuka blames her whenever Atsuya does the same thing.

She and Atsuya are definitely the dumb jocks of the team.

"Why someone would call another person 'darling'," Juka replies with a giggle.

"Or 'buttercup'," Hakoda supplements, still smiling. Nae is getting so used to seeing it that the smile is almost starting to not surprise her. He never used to smile. Now that he and Juka spend more time together, he does it all of the time.

"Oh." Mabuka looks suddenly uncomfortable, for reasons Nae can't explain. "That's, uh – you should ask your parents?"

"What did I miss?" Someone else joins the conversation.

"Turns out Nae left elementary school early," Shirou says from somewhere behind his brother.

Nae isn't sure when the captain reappeared, but if she were a cat, the hair on the back of her neck would be standing up. They're lucky she's not a bear, because even the Bear Killer wouldn't have been able to stop her right now. Thanks to Atsuya, she knows that bears are grumpy and easily provoked into attacking.

And somehow, hearing Shirou say those things makes her especially indignant. It's like dropping an ice cream cone on the ground and failing yet another test combined.

"I am not!" Nae protests loudly, stamping her foot for emphasis.

The look of disbelief on several of her teammates faces tells her how unconvincing that was. Why? She'd told them straightfowardly. Desperate to redeem herself, Nae continues, "I just don't understand why everyone is suddenly acting like they know something I don't, that's all..."

Atsuya bounces a little. He never misses an opportunity to tease her, and in fact, looks more gleeful than normal about it. He's grinning so wide that she can see his teeth.

“Silly Bunny.” He has really pointy canines, like a little wolf puppy. “People call each other cute nicknames when they _like_ each other.”

“Of course they like each other, they're team – ”

“That's not what I mean!”

Nae puffs her cheeks out at that one. She hates being interrupted almost as much as she hates being called a child. Her face goes red, knowing she's only going to embarrass herself more if her next guess is wrong, but it's all she has. “I was going to say, they like each other, because they're teammates, and they get to spend a lot of time together!”

A couple of people “oooh” in the background, which is encouraging. “They _like_ each other,” Nae continues, emphasizing the word to get her point across. She doesn't do it the same way Atsuya did, doesn't drag the word out for three extra syllables, and her voice doesn't crack in the middle of them.

Atsuya, who is not even remotely as cool or elegant as his older brother, snorts in response. “Guess you're not that much of a kid after all.”

“Did you really know the whole time?” Juka asks. She looks just as surprised as Nae feels, but there's a more important itch in Nae's brain that she has to scratch right now. Pride over having correctly guessed that Juka and Hakoda are dating isn't enough on its own – there's something else she has to address now.

“Hey, Atsuya?”

“Yeah?”  
Nae reviews the facts in her head one last time before making the leap. The fact that Atsuya has always liked to tease her, the way he's been a lot nicer to her lately, and how his face light up when he mentioned nicknames and people liking each other...

“People call each other cute nicknames when they like each other,” she intones, repeating something Atsuya had said not that long ago. She watches him flinch, watches a pink blush creep onto his cheeks. “Atsuya, do you like _me_?”

The “ooohs” in the crowd get a lot louder, and a couple of people laugh. Nae doesn't hear them anymore, but if she did, she would've yelled at them for making fun of Atsuya.

On the subject of Atsuya, he makes another weird sound. This time more of a “gah” than a “tch” or a snort. His hands have left his sides, are trembling cluelessly in the air in front of him, and Nae is so hyper-fixated on this one thought that's just entered her head, she doesn't notice any of these things either.

“You called me 'Bunny' earlier,” she concludes, smiling wide.

She has no idea what Atsuya why didn't say anything sooner. That's pretty cute of him. Thinking about it makes her feel warm, and fills her with a rush of energy. Nae could run laps around the school right now, like fifty of them, and not feel tired.

“Oh, you can call me 'Bunny' if you want to!”

“That's not...! I didn't mean...” Atsuya changes from a Bear Killer or a wolf puppy to a cat, spitting and hissing at her to make himself sound scarier. Finally, he grabs the edge of his scarf and pulls it up to cover his nose, trying to hide the transition from pink to bright red that his face makes. Except he's one of those people that blushes all the way to the tips of his ears, so his attempt is unsuccessful.

Adjusting his scarf does seem to help him regain some of his composure, however.

“...As if...” Atsuya makes another “tch” noise, and then changes tactics. “ _No_ , why the heck would you think that? It's not like I enjoy going out to eat with you or like it when you bring me snacks – _I don't._ _Stop looking at me like that!_ "

Nae's favorite part is that she is, according to Shirou and pretty much anyone else who's ever tried to eat anything she's made, an absolute disaster of a cook. All of her recipes are original though, meaning they have more love put into them than something copied from a cookbook. Right? She absolutely _squeals_ with delight, like a tea kettle that's blowing off steam.

“Oh, how about I bring you something tomorrow, then?” She bounces closer, catches the hand that's not holding onto his scarf out of the air, and warms it with her own. “Chocolate marshmallow cookies? Apple crisps? I know! What if I made some pudding cups, and gave it ears and a nose and eyes, so it looks like a bear!”

Just as the rest of the team is starting to wonder if they'll ever be able to get back to practice without Shirou around to keep them on task, Nae continues, “I have to give you a cute nickname in return... Hm... How about 'Atsuya Bear'?”

 _“Nae,”_ he whines in return. He seems to have accepted his fate as Nae's new boyfriend, because his next words are, “I'm the _Bear Killer_ , remember?”

“Right, right.”

As far as whether or not the rest of the team will ever get back to practice, the answer to that is probably “no”. Not with all of their usual members participating, at least. Hakoda retakes his position in front of the goal. Juka and Mabuka kick the ball back and forth a couple of times, like they're contemplating playing around these “children” if they have to.

“How about 'Honey Bun'? No? 'Peanut'?”

“Why are they all based on food?”

“Okay, then. Snugglelaffums!”

“NO!”

“Sweetums?” Nae tries again, completely unphased.

“I wonder how well Atsuya will be able to focus during practice now,” Juka comments. The ball reaches her side of the field, and this time she dribbles around the once again bickering duo.

One of the Forwards advances to steal it from her, and she skillfully passes to Mabuka, who continues the conversation while running it up the field. Juka follows him, leaving her position for the sake of hearing what he has to say.

“Probably pretty well,” Mabuka decides.

Even though they've given no indication that either of them has realized practice has resumed, he sounds confident in his answer.

Juka thinks about that for a moment. “Atsuya went a whole three months thinking he was being sneaky about liking Nae,” she decides finally.

“And Nae was the only person who didn't notice.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is VERY loosely tied into the story I wrote for Inazuma Eleven Big Bang, which I've finished, but can't post yet. And by that I mean, I looked at all of the characters who even somewhat interacted during that story and went "sure, why not" when selecting a side pair for this one.


End file.
